A prominent North Korean defector and a South Korean politician are contradicting reports that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il died of a heart attack, pointing to rumors that he was assassinated as result of an internal power struggle between the ruling Communist Workers’ Party and the country’s military.

“A rumor is circulating that earlier a high-ranking North Korean official was shot dead. This has yet to be confirmed, but such talk is evidence that discontent was brewing among some people in the North,” political scientist An Chan-il told the Korea Times.

Noting that numerous military officers were dismissed shortly after the anointment of Kim Jung-un as the Stalinist state’s next leader, An said that growing resentment within the ranks could have led to an assassination plot carried out “by those harboring discontent with the way he ruled the country.”

“As their vested interests were hurt due to Kim Jong-il, I would not rule out the possibility that some military officers, who believed their clout and influence had been damaged, could have played a role in his death,” An said.

Rep Chun Yo-ok of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) also speculated that Kim Jong-Il’s death could have been an act of “homicide,” the result of an internal power struggle.

Although the dictator has been in bad health since he reportedly suffered a stroke in August 2008, recent public appearances suggest Kim Jon-Il’s health was improving.

Rumors have long circulated that not all of the country’s military units held the slavish devotion to their “dear leader” that was portrayed by the state-run media.

As Infowars reported yesterday, strong rumors of the regime’s collapse have been circulating for over a year on the back of suspicions that Kim Jong-Il had already died. The London Telegraph questioned back in September 2010 whether a double was covering for his premature death, noting that North Korea had gone to some lengths to formally name his son, Kim Jong-un, still in his twenties, as successor in a ceremony.

Meanwhile in a related report, China has sent 2,000 PLA troops to the border with North Korea in an effort to ensure refugees do not flood across the border. 30,000 Chinese troops will be in place by the end of the month, according to a report out of Taiwan’s Central News Agency . The amount of North Koreans attempting to flee the country has surged in recent years.

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show.